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The King Soopers near me (a Kroger subsidiary) starting accepting Apple Pay a few months, kinda out of nowhere. The crazy thing is, as far as I can tell, they didn’t have to change any of the POS terminals. In other words, it seems that the terminals always supported tap-to-pay, but Kroger deliberately disabled that hardware feature 🤦‍♂️
 
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Still blows my mind that in the US specific retailers are still rolling out “support for Apple Pay”. In Australia, and I’m sure other countries, you would have a very difficult time finding any merchant that doesn’t accept contactless payment (and therefore automatically Apple Pay)
 
FWIW, I live in Colorado and have never been able to use Apple Pay at King Soopers.
 
Oh come on! Cries in Tesla.

The Tesla app has Apple Pay for a lot of things, but no CarPlay. :mad::mad::mad:

HEB "claims" they will be getting Apple Pay by the end of this year, but I will believe it when I see it.
I ran into Scott, CEO at the time of HEB, he's retired now, but he told me they would never have Apple Pay, some BS about concerns over privacy. Sigh, I'm sure a lot of those same privacy concerns go with physical cards being used too, so doesn't add up. HEB doesn't want to pay the merchant fees, same for Walmart. If Apple gave it for free to Walmart they actually might get Walmart on board, but Walmart probably have their line drawn in the sand on this one.

I don't get some apps, you have Xfinity App on the phone and iPad, but not on Apple TV, why is that?
 
I remember working at Food Lion when I was in high school in the 90's

We were late to accept credit or debit cards. Until then it was only cash or check.

You should have seen the confused look on people's faces when we told them that... while we pointed in the direction of the ATM machine in the lobby.

This feels similar. There's something out there that nearly every phone can do, and that people are comfortable with, and that many stores accept... but certain stores still say "no thanks"

I hope it's worth it to those stores. To me those stores seem behind... like Food Lion back in the day.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
Still blows my mind that in the US specific retailers are still rolling out “support for Apple Pay”. In Australia, and I’m sure other countries, you would have a very difficult time finding any merchant that doesn’t accept contactless payment (and therefore automatically Apple Pay)
I believe we had a controversy where some retailers didn’t want to give Apple a cut for payments. So some of them held out and tried to develop their own solutions, which ultimately failed. Target only recently folded in my area. I believe Walmart is still a notable hold out.
 
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I remember working at Food Lion when I was in high school in the 90's

We were late to accept credit or debit cards. Until then it was only cash or check.

You should have seen the confused look on people's faces when we told them that... while we pointed in the direction of the ATM machine in the lobby.

This feels similar. There's something out there that nearly every phone can do, and that people are comfortable with, and that many stores accept... but certain stores still say "no thanks"

I hope it's worth it to those stores. To me those stores seem behind... like Food Lion back in the day.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Doubtful it’s hurting them. I still shop at Walmart even though it’s annoying as heck. I’m not gonna not go just because I don’t want to pull my debit card out.
 
I hate to tell you, but you're wasting your time. The cashier has zero influence or input on this and I would go so far to say as even the store manager would have zero input. It's about like telling the road construction worker you don't like how they are widening the road.

These are a multi million dollar corporations. Those decisions are made in some board room without asking people at the stores. I'd say the only things that might have an influence is social media or direct contact with corporate. I'd say calling corporate would have minimal impact because not many people are going to do it so they are just going to count your complaint as a one off. Social media could have a bigger impact because it encourages mass participation.

Other than that the best way to vote is with your wallet. If you have a choice between two stores and one accepts Apple Pay, then go to that one. If you really feel strongly about it, that means don't just go to the one that accepts Apple Pay if it's convenient at the moment. If you have to spend an extra 15 minutes going to the other one, then do it. Corporations depend on people being lazy and just accepting whatever they throw at them

Yeah I’ve heard the vote with your wallet thing way too many times. Unfortunately, I’ve found that’s not always easy or even possible to do it, and these abusive retailers know it, that’s why they get away with blocking certain forms of payment. Home Depot, for example, has a lot of products and brands it sells exclusively (example: zep cleaning products) making it almost impossible to vote with your wallet when you can’t buy the same product elsewhere. Walmart is the largest US retailer and as such has a much greater presence that any of its competitors throughout the US and even in other countries. Very hard to vote with your wallet when the only thing you have nearby is a Walmart store and you have to drive a long way to find a competitor’s store. Not easy to vote with the wallet when walmart has a better price for the same product or offers a discount not offered by the competitors.

I believe social networks should be used besides avoiding those stores. Pressure from a negative public opinion was in part what made Walmart yield and start accepting contactless in Canada, the only country where they accept it, after walmart became the only holdout in the whole country.
 
Man, once you get used to scan and go there ain't no way you're going back through a register. You only type in your card information ONCE. Just one time. It's not like you have to enter it in each time you use it. You literally pick something off the shelf, scan it, pay for it, laugh at the people in line using registers, and go to the exit door.
Yeah, you're missing the point. Them storing your card info is the issue. I don't want anyone—given the number of data breaches across many companies—storing my payment info. I don't shop at Sam's (prefer Costco), so it's really moot for me anyway.
 
They must have paid some intern $50 to throw Kroger Pay together, because it is the biggest absolute pile of turd **** I have ever used. Sometimes you get cryptic error messages for no apparent reason, with no explanation! It also does not work at the gas station, at all.
I doubt the intern theory as regulations deailing with payment info ( and personal info) tend to be complex and difficult to implement iirc, but hey as I live in norway, I have never had any contact with the app in question or the store for that matter
 
It amazes me how far ahead Europe is when it comes to this stuff. Totally different world. Here in the US using a physical card is still a daily occurrence, Apple Pay terminals are more common than they once were but they’re still the exception rather than the rule. I still often get looked at like I just did some crazy wizard stuff when I try to use Apple Pay here. And in any restaurant, handing over your card is still the standard procedure. There’s no way to use Apple Pay even if you wanted to.

On the other hand, Just spent a week in London and I didn’t so much as even LOOK at my card the entire time, not even once. Or paper money either, for that matter. No matter where I went, even restaurants. Apple Pay/tap to pay terminals are e v e r y w h e r e and that’s what you’re expected to use. Just a normal part of daily life, as it should be.
That's exactly how it has been in Canada for quite some time. American tourists are always blown away here.
 
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Anywhere else in the World refusing contactless payments in the past years would have seriously affected their business. It’s such a standard form of paying these days I simply wouldn’t bother shopping somewhere that didn’t accept it. I rarely carry a wallet and haven’t done for years.
 
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Because those billions make it impossible for smaller grocers and stores to operate at affordable prices. I do shop smaller when I can but for many things there’s not another good option. Not everyone lives where there are lots of alternatives.

And more relevant to this article, ironically every one of those smaller merchants accepts Apple Pay no problem. Many of them are astonished to realize that they do, but they do.

There is one restaurant which recently inexplicably stopped supporting Apple Pay and went back to magstripe only which I honestly thought was illegal or at least extremely ill advised since they are now fully on the hook for any fraud.

Card processors must want to charge extra for Apple Pay and most people must not realize that they’re paying for it.
Apple Pay is free for consumers and businesses to use. There is no additional cost for companies to accept Apple Pay.
 
Anywhere else in the World refusing contactless payments in the past years would have seriously affected their business. It’s such a standard form of paying these days I simply wouldn’t bother shopping somewhere that didn’t accept it. I rarely carry a wallet and haven’t done for years.
That, and also it's interesting how the news is about Apple Pay when the article actually says they started accepting contactless payments with any card.

They still don't have contactless credit cards in the US? I mean the actual plastic, not the phone apps.
 
In Nj many gas stations offer a discount if paying in cash. You still see the attendants with a big roll of cash.
 
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I believe we had a controversy where some retailers didn’t want to give Apple a cut for payments. So some of them held out and tried to develop their own solutions, which ultimately failed. Target only recently folded in my area. I believe Walmart is still a notable hold out.
That was the banks in regards to allowing their cards to be added to apple pay, not the retailers. once the banks added support it instantly was available to use at any retailer. but yes it was a different kind of issue but thankfully it has been resolved now and basically every bank supports it.
 
We stopped shopping at Mariano's years ago mainly because of the lack of Apple Pay support, but if Kroger is adding it, there is a strong chance that Mariano's will have it too! It will be a good option to the mix. The only stores that I am annoying by the lack of Apple Pay is not Menards, Home Deport and Lowes, although Ace Hardware takes, but I just never think of it when needing to go to a home improvement store.
 
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In Nj many gas stations offer a discount if paying in cash. You still see the attendants with a big roll of cash.

Wow, I literally can’t remember the last time I used cash to pay for fuel. Petrol stations in my country operate mostly in card payments or contactless and it’s quicker to process. Less cash on-site too for when they get held up. It tends to be elderly people these days who carry cash for this sort of thing and those that haven’t grasped the digital age since 2000.
 
We stopped shopping at Mariano's years ago mainly because of the lack of Apple Pay support, but if Kroger is adding it, there is a strong change that Mariano's will have it too! It will be a good option to the mix. The only store that I am annoying by the lack of Apple Pay is not Menards, Home Deport and Lowes, although Ace Hardware takes, but I just never think of it when needing to go to a home improvement store.

Yeah it makes life so much easier. I did my shopping this morning via the self scan as you go around method. Everything is scanned and bagged up by the time you get to the checkout and it’s a simple Apple Watch transaction at the end. So easy, quick and hassle free. I wouldn’t bother shopping anywhere that doesn’t accept it, but thankfully our adoption rate is much higher than other countries anyway.
 
For everyone bashing the US for being behind the times with respect to payments, it has nothing to do with technology. ApplePay originated in the US after all. As did iPhones. It’s not like there isn’t suitable tech there that’s existed just as long as it has everywhere else.

It has to do with cultural and behavioral entrenchment of end users; the perceived value of extreme tracking and hyper-targeted advertising; the lack of any national privacy initiatives; the lack of will or knowledge of uninformed and ineffective government to enact privacy policies; and a long standing tradition of corporate hubris.

What drives me nuts the most about the payment systems there are having to hand over cards at restaurants. Or running a tab at a bar where they actually hold on to your card!
 
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